Rural Housing Summit: Keynote addresses

During the 2021 Rural Housing Summit we published 5 keynotes with Robert Lewis-Lettington of UN-Habitat looking at housing as a basic Human Right; Dr Corianne Payton Scally looking at housing for health in rural USA; Siobhan McCauley examining rural housing policy in Northern Ireland; Dr Annie McKee examining land reform and rural housing in Scotland; and Derek Logie exploring housing to enable rural futures.

Keynote: Robert Lewis-Lettington

Housing as a basic human right

Robert Lewis-Lettington, Chief of the Land, Housing and Shelter Section at UN-Habitat, kicks off the week’s main programme, highlighting the basic human right to adequate housing and discussing what this means in the context of our rural communities.

Keynote: Dr Corianne Payton Scally

Housing for health

Dr Corianne Payton Scally, Principal Research Associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute (USA), examines connections and challenges between rural residence and health equity.

Keynote: Siobhan McCauley

Rural Housing Policy

Siobhan McCauley, Director of Regional Services in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, reflects on the evolution and continued development of rural housing policy over the 50-year life of one of the UK’s largest social housing providers, and discusses how working with communities is key to success.

Keynote: Dr Annie McKee

Land Reform and Rural Housing

Dr Annie McKee, Social Researcher in Land Management at the James Hutton Institute and Convenor of the Rural Housing Scotland board, explores the lessons we can all learn from land reform in Scotland, and the challenges still faced by rural communities.

Keynote: Derek Logie

Enabling Rural Futures

Derek Logie, Chief Executive for Rural Housing Scotland, discusses the key role rural housing enablers play in efforts to tackle housing need, and outlines plans being developed by Rural Housing Scotland to combine traditional models and modern technology to repopulate rural areas and strengthen rural communities.


We are delighted to be working with UN-Habitat, Ecology Building Society and partners across the UK, Ireland and beyond to bring you the Rural Housing Summit in place of our annual conference in 2021.